THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE DEFICIT. Opportunities for Growth in the Retail Industry

Transcription

1 Opportunities for Growth in the Retail Industry

2 COTETS FOREWORD Foreword 1 Executive summary 3 Introduction 4 Our findings 9 ICES methodology 29 Sector focus 39 References 60 Glossary 62 About 63 Foreword At Head we have spent numerous hours with retail customers through interviews, observations and contextual research. Over the years this has allowed us to deliver customer insights to our clients that apply well beyond the scope of the product or service that we are designing with them. These nuggets are about how customers talk about their experiences; how they use technology in their everyday lives, what will catch their eye and what turns them off. We know what consumers want from retailers, but we wanted to understand the real financial benefit of this to our clients. We embarked upon this study, in partnership with Oxford Economics, to see what would happen when we put our experience and the sales figures together, the results simply blew us away. We have outlined our findings in this booklet because we wanted to give retailers a broad awareness of those behavioural insights; the little but important things that can fall between the gaps of specific touchpoints and channels. It has amazed (although not surprised) us just how much we have gained from doing this piece of work. There is so much that retailers can easily (and economically) do, with both their service proposition and their technology, in order to create a better end-to-end customer experience and in the process increase their revenue. We hope we can convince you of the validity of taking an integrated approach to customer experience. We believe that you will find our insights interesting and relevant and whether you agree or disagree, we would love to hear from you. Paul-Jervis Heath & Lola Oyelayo THE DIGITAL DEFICIT 1

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMAR Executive summary The way we shop has changed. Customers want to move between channels from store to website to app as they browse, decide, buy, receive and resolve any issue with their purchase. This presents a challenge: how can retailers provide a compelling integrated customer experience that grows market share? We created a qualitative assessment, the Integrated Customer Experience Scale (ICES) to review how well digital and offline touchpoints are weaved together to create an integrated customer experience. We assessed 100 UK retailers. Oxford Economics then analysed the retailers sales performance. Our findings indicate that there is a correlation between a strong integrated customer experience and sales growth; between , the retailers studied lost almost half a billion pounds worth in potential sales by failing to deliver a truly integrated and tailored customer experience. The key success factors are: enable customers to choose a purchase path which suits them best, create appropriate links between touchpoints, use mobile websites and mobile apps appropriately and treat customer support as an important part of customer experience. Our study suggests that the expertise of creating persuasive customer experiences in-store is not being fully exploited at digital touchpoints. Online retail experiences have to become brand specific, highly relevant and personalised to each shopper. Retailers need to make better use of existing resources, skills, people and technology. Service innovation is the primary way to stand out from the competition and maximise the return on investment in customer experience and technology. Innovation requires a slightly different approach, but it need not cost more or take longer. The way to identify innovation opportunities is to scrutinise customer behaviour, identify customers real underlying needs and to design compelling and indispensable retail experiences to meet those needs. 2 3

4 ITRODUCTIO ITRODUCTIO Introduction In this changing environment, is it surprising that the retailers who holistically integrate digital touchpoints into a coherent customer experience exhibit better sales growth? Customers are beginning to expect retailers to have integrated services across touchpoints. This is not a fad; if anything this behaviour will gain speed and transform the way we shop forever. The Customer Experience Deficit The deficit in sales growth, by sector, for retailers not providing an Integrated Customer Experience Just over a quarter of UK adults and almost half of teenagers own a smartphone [1]. Recent research from Google [2] shows that in a typical week, 81% of US smartphone owners will use their device to access the Internet. More importantly, 79% of US smartphone owners use their telephones to help with shopping; to do things like comparing prices, finding product information or locating a retailer. Perhaps most significantly, 70% use their smartphones whilst standing in a store. This change in behaviour has created a variety of new purchase paths that begin online and bring consumers into the store. Social media is also changing how we choose what to buy. One in every five hours spent online in the UK is spent on a social networking site according to Ofcom[3]. It would seem like a simple decision to place ads on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. However, click-through rates for these ads are relatively poor and evidence from Harvard Business School [4] suggests that wall posts and tweets play a more influential role in driving sales. Social media has an important role to play, but to be effective it needs to be weaved into the total customer experience. Retailers in our study lost out on almost 0.5bn of potential sales by not having an integrated customer experience 4 5

5 ITRODUCTIO ITRODUCTIO Head London studied 100 UK retailers to evaluate their customer experience. We created our own qualitative assessment called the Integrated Customer Experience Scale (ICES), to review how well digital and offline touchpoints are combined together into an integrated experience for customers. We worked with Oxford Economics to analyse the sales performance of those retailers. Our findings indicate that there is a correlation between retailers that have a strong integrated customer experience and positive sales growth. The Shopper Journey Our research demonstrates how companies can capitalise on the opportunities afforded by technology to provide more pervasive experiences for their customers. We show how traditional retail skills can be employed to create engaging experiences at digital touchpoints, how innovation and imagination provide better results than copying the competition and how to prioritise investment to maximise return. Creating an integrated experience is a crucial measure that can improve sales growth, however it will not isolate companies completely from market forces. Our methodology Building on the work of Professor oriaki Kano s model that examines features based on customer satisfaction (outlined further on page 23), we created a scale that evaluates the integration of touchpoints within a customer experience. We examined the retail domain and specified what makes a Basic, Performance and Excitement experience. The Integrated Customer Experience Scale (ICES) scores were calculated by assessing how well each company integrates their in-store, website, mobile website, mobile app, Interactive TV (itv), catalogue, telephone and social media at 5 key stages of The Shopper Journey : Browsing, Deciding, Buying, Receiving and Resolve. Retailers were given points out of ten based on how well they met customer expectations at each stage of The Shopper Journey. Companies that failed to provide even a basic level of service were penalised. The maximum possible score was 50 points and the minimum -13. Figure 1. The Shopper Journey - Browse, Decide, Buy, Receive and Resolve To assess the impact of the multichannel performance on sales growth, Oxford Economics calculated the annual UK revenue growth of the companies between 2007 and 2010, using data from Retail Week. The relative performance of each company, in terms of revenue growth, was benchmarked against the rest of their sector e.g. Department Stores, Fashion, Groceries using data on retail sales sourced from the Office of ational Statistics. Factors controlled in the analysis were the fact that online sales growth had grown at vastly superior rates to overall retail sales since 2007; that heavy discount firms have enjoyed relatively strong growth during the recession, commonly known as the Aldi Effect and that in some categories, such as the Electronics sector, there are significantly different products being sold, some of which have experienced strong sales growth in recent years. 6 7

7 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS TOP ICES SCORES AD RESULTAT SALES Sector Company ICES Score Resultant Sales Growth ( mns) Groceries Tesco Department Store / Mixed Goods John Lewis (John Lewis Partnership plc) Groceries J Sainsburys plc Groceries ASDA Group Groceries Waitrose Furniture Heal s Stationery Blackwell s Chemist, Health & Beauty Boots (Alliance Boots GmbH) Electronics Comet (Kesa Electricals plc) Entertainment Love Film Fashion ext plc Fashion Blacks Fashion Monsoon Household Hardware Screwfix (Kingfisher plc) Looking at the sales growth of the 100 retailers over the period what was most interesting was how much of their revenue could be attributed to their integrated customer experience (Figure 2). Although not the only factor in sales growth there is a clear correlation between scoring highly on ICES and achieving significant sales. The top 10 retailers by sales growth (%) are exceptional given the difficult trading conditions experienced in The top 4 have been able to do this with strong integration across retail touchpoints, they still have a some way to go to realize their full potential (none of them are in the top 5 ICES scores), however this presents solid evidence that the trend going forward will be to focus on delivering integrated experiences. This is not a coincidence, over the following pages we will outline the factors we have identified as having the most significant impact on successful integrated customer experiences. TOP 10 SALES GROWTH Sector Company Sales growth (%) Fashion All Saints 68.5 Fashion et-a-porter 60.1 Furniture Dwell 57.9 Fashion Asos 56.0 Entertainment Amazon.co.uk 33.4 Entertainment Love Film 32.5 Department Store / Mixed Goods House of Fraser Fashion Urban Outfitters 26.2 Household Hardware Wickes Building Supplies Stationery Waterstones (HMV Group) Wines & Spirits Laithwaites Electronics Richer Sounds 24.5 Groceries Ocado 22.7 Entertainment The Game Group plc 22.3 Figure 2. Top ICES Scores and the resultant impact on sales growth for the period Figure 3. Top 10 Sales Growth 10 11

8 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS Enable customers to purchase as they want Creating a seamless experience between channels allows customers to make decisions about how they engage with a retailer based on what is most appropriate and convenient for them. The key to success however is carefully planning the journey between these channels to prevent it becoming confusing. Looking at the customer experience holistically is key to choreographing an integrated experience. The customer experience can be broken down into discrete units called Moments. The key attribute of a Moment is that it is completed on a single touchpoint, for example, checkout or browse category. Once a Moment is completed it is highly possible that the user will move to another channel. This movement between touchpoints should be planned carefully and the users context and situation picked up when they arrive at their destination touchpoint. For example, during the checkout process the customer will purchase goods on a single touchpoint: either mobile website, desktop website, app or in-store. On completion they have successfully made a purchase and their next interaction with the retailer could be on a different touchpoint. When they next interact with the retailer they should be able to see this purchase, no matter which touchpoint they visit. Tesco choreograph post-checkout perfectly, which is one reason why it is the top scorer on the ICES. They provide their customers with a consistent view of their past purchases on all channels. For example, the customer can see their in-store purchases when they sign-in online. This is massively convenient and reassuring when grocery shopping. Create links to guide customers between touchpoints In creating an integrated customer experience, the links between touchpoints are as important as the activities at touchpoints themselves. Links between touchpoints can be explicit or implicit, but they have to exist to give the customer the impression that they are experiencing a single journey as they move between digital and offline. Explicit links lead the customer between channels An explicit link between touchpoints takes the form of a call-to-action, hyperlink or other mechanism that moves a customer from one channel to the next. A simple example is that all of the retailers in our study send a confirmation once a purchase has been completed. Firstly, this assures customers that their order has been recorded correctly. Secondly, it provides a signpost to their account to be able to manage the order and an explicit link to the website and mobile website where available. Explicit links are easy to conceptualise, plan and implement. They require no investment beyond the time to plan them. By identifying the moments in the customer experience and planning the touchpoint they will occur on, the retailer can architect the right network of links between touchpoints to create a seamless integrated experience. Implicit links create a narrative connection between touchpoints Implicit links create a narrative connection, rather than a physical connection, between two touchpoints. The Boots advantage card is a good example. In seeking the rewards the card offers, consumers will look for ways to shop with the retailer. The retailers in turn provide a number of ways in which the consumer can choose to interact with them. For Boots customers, they can The ICES was designed to measure integration - the degree to which touchpoints were linked together to create a seamless customer experience

9 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS go in-store and use a kiosk or simply access the Boots website to review and spend their advantage points. The customers information is the same on every touchpoint, giving the experience consistency and integration, without a physical action needing to guide them through the journey. The top 10 ICES scorers were littered with good examples of implicit links between touchpoints. Implicit links need to be planned in a more comprehensive way than explicit links. Deciding where they should occur in the experience is the first step, which you do by observing and understanding users needs. Once this is achieved the aspects that need to remain consistent to create the narrative can be specified. Use explicit and implicit links The highest scorers on ICES present the customer with a single and consistent version of their activity. This allows retailers to sell to their customers in a more intelligent manner. They appear to be helpful to their customers rather than overtly selling to them. In turn their customers gain confidence and trust, responding instinctively to explicit and implicit links across the various touchpoints. Use mobile websites and mobile apps appropriately Mobile websites and mobile apps are not the same thing and should not be used interchangeably. The biggest difference between them is the commitment required by the customer. A mobile app has to be found on that platform s app store, downloaded, installed and it stays on that device. A mobile website is accessed via the device s browser. Branded utility makes apps desirable Given the necessary effort required by the consumer to download an app, it is easy to see this is not suitable for a casual encounter with a retailer. Apps are for loyal, repeat customers and are a great retention tool. The phrase branded utility describes when companies deliver meaning and usefulness through their marketing. In our study, Hardware retailer B&Q and Grocery retailer Waitrose show good examples of branded utility in their mobile apps, giving the customer a good reason to download and use them. The B&Q iphone app helps people to do common DI tasks, from putting up shelves to simple plumbing and electrics. For each job it gives the user a stepby-step guide and a list of the required tools and materials. The customer can take that list into a B&Q store for a convenient shopping experience or share the list with a friend. The B&Q app provides something useful; it places the brand on the smartphone of someone likely to be doing DI putting it front of mind when that person enters their consideration and purchase phase. The Waitrose iphone app provides over 200 free recipes that can be searched by ingredient and occasion. It allows the user to save recipes and build a shopping list from the ingredients, which they can then buy in-store. It also provides cooks tools like conversion calculators, timing guides, information about seasonal produce and guides to matching food and wine. Both apps provide store locators and store opening times but the key benefit that they deliver is useful content and functionality. The usefulness of these apps encourages people to download, install and use repeatedly on their device. Focus mobile websites on casual, contextual interactions Mobile websites should be used in a different way. Unlike apps they are perfect for casual interactions. When a mobile user searches on their Smartphone the most convenient touchpoint a retailer can send them to is their mobile website. Content and functionality on mobile websites shouldn t necessarily replicate the desktop website, which should be prioritised according to shoppers needs. In our study John Lewis stood out as having one of the best mobile websites. They simplify their desktop website perfectly for a mobile device, retaining their well-considered navigation but making it suitable for the smaller screen size and touch interface. The site carries a full range of products and is equally useful in-store or at home. It provides a perfect experience from a mobile search, allowing you to buy for home delivery or collection in a store

10 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS Retailers who create branded utility in the native apps and correctly prioritise content and functionality for their mobile website scored high on the ICES. As mobile search continues to grow and smartphone penetration increases we expect this to become more important in retail performance. Customer support is an important part of customer experience The last two stages of The Shopper Journey, Receive and Resolve, could be considered traditional post-sales activity. The area that showed the poorest score across even the best retailers in our study was the Resolve stage - effectively customer support. The desktop website is typically the first stop for Help & Support information but many retailers fail to provide any more than the most basic content. ext had one of the better customer experiences in this area. Their website includes a comprehensive knowledge base of questions with links to everything including store opening times, returns policies and size guides. ext clearly provide a contact form and telephone numbers for their different services. However, many retailers were not so obvious. ot allowing customers to reach you by the channel they deem most appropriate can cause frustration and have a negative impact on the customer experience. As soon as customers have trouble finding a telephone number their trust decreases and purchase anxiety grows. Eventually this can result in lost sales. Direct contact with customers by phone is a fantastic opportunity to have person-to-person contact and demonstrates your brand values first hand. Done well, the cost association should be more than covered in customer retention. Social media as a customer support tool The most advanced retailers are also using social media to address customer service issues. ASOS is one of the more sophisticated. They offer 24/7 customer support on , Facebook and Twitter to resolve issues from missing orders to questions about sizing. Interestingly, we could not find a telephone number in their entire site. Given that they are an online-only retailer and observing how quickly they respond to questions on the other touchpoints - they promise to respond to contact within 4 hours - their customer support activity can be considered best practice for their audience. Any retailer thinking of using social media should remember that this can be a resource-heavy channel. Without a dedicated team to operate social media support effectively, it offers little benefit to the consumer. The key point about using social media for customer support is that it should only be a facilitator for human-to-human communication. That requires retailers to have skilled customer service people operating through social channels. Effective customer support through digital channels There are numerous good practise examples of using technology for customer service beyond retail. Many high-street banks, utility companies and airlines empower their customers to solve problems themselves or to reach service representatives: Chiltern Railways uses Twitter to announce service updates to passengers including delays, cancellations and short formations of trains. The company responds quickly to complaints and questions EasyJet uses Twitter to listen out for and respond to passengers diverse questions and complaints, from telling them which terminal they ll be flying from to passing on feedback about s containing large images HSBC provide live webchat from within a customer s secure account area British Gas and Dell provide clearly labelled top 5 questions 16 17

11 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS Scottish Power gives customers options about how to engage with support. It includes the Ask Katie avatar, which searches a knowledge base, a standard search, Quick Guides and displays their telephone numbers prominently British Gas and Scottish Power provide video help content BT has a behaviourally driven customer support section that arranges content by category Clearly, customer support is an important aspect of an integrated customer experience. Inevitably, customers will start to expect better customer service across all digital touchpoints as they use more of the functionality provided on mobile websites, native apps, social media and desktop websites. Apply traditional retail techniques to digital touchpoints There is still a significant opportunity for retailers to create more compelling and persuasive integrated shopping experiences just by combining traditional retail techniques with technology. Three of the top five retailers (in terms of sales growth in the period ) exhibit this ability. ASOS, et-a-porter and All Saints, all from the Fashion sector, have grown between 50-70% by creating truly remarkable experiences for their customers. These retailers understand that they don t just sell a product, they deliver a service proposition. Merchandising a digital store The in-store experience can be rich and seductive: carefully merchandised products set in an environment designed to aid and augment the shopping experience. Retailers have been designing stores for many years and have a deeply evolved understanding of how customers shop and why they buy. Merchandisers and interior designers create hard-to-resist environments that showcase products beautifully in stores like Apple, Heal s, All Saints and Liberty. More functional environments, like those in Tesco and Sainsbury s, are no less effectively merchandised. Compare this to the usual online experience: products displayed in long, flat product lists and organised by category. The typical online experience is better described as finding rather than shopping - customers move from list to list until they find something that they might be interested in. While the customer browses there is almost no inspiration, beyond what they bring with them. To create successful integrated experiences, information has to flow between digital teams and merchandisers, something even the best retailers in our study could do with focusing on. Despite an average score on the ICES, H&M demonstrates some of the best online merchandising. Its website provides a browsing experience that quickly gets the shopper to a category and provides filters such as colour, size and concepts. It makes it easy for people to find a specific item. We have already discussed that ASOS has an always-on service attitude. Equally, et-a-porter provides more than a store. The purchase experience is supported by their delivery methods: luxurious packaging and ability to tryand-return on delivery. Together these techniques have not just made it feasible, but also desirable, to spend upwards of 5,000 online for a couture item

12 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS trends they have previously liked, the items they have bought and understanding other behaviours. Retailers can then use that information to make relevant recommendations and begin to make the online experience indispensible. In our study, Ocado offered one of the best personalised experiences. By analysing a customer s previous purchases it creates an instant shop of the products a shopper most frequently buys, offers recommendations and allow shoppers to find deals for their favourite products. Before checkout they alert the shopper to products that they might have forgotten based on previous behaviour. All of the personalised functionality works together to provide a helpful shopping experience. Sector stand-out requires service innovation The study shows tight groupings of retailers within categories achieving very similar scores, which suggests a lack of innovation: retailers in these groups all provide a very similar customer experience. The Groceries category hints at what could happen in other sectors if retailers do not innovate effectively. In Groceries, Tesco (41), Waitrose (39), ASDA (39) and Sainsbury s (39) all have very strong scores but their similar integrated customer experiences cancel each other out. Figure 4. The H&M dressing room enables shoppers to put items together to create their own outfits ot everyone is looking for something specific when they shop though. H&M also successfully provide inspiration through trend-based content. They even allow the user to put items together to build outfits through their dressing room feature. The site guides less confident shoppers towards complementary items, by showing products together in outfits and making it easy to buy the whole lot with an add all to bag button and QuickShop. Personalising the shopping experience Personalisation technology provides retailers with the opportunity to build an offer tailored to the individual customer in a way that cannot be achieved in the physical store. This comes from learning about their shopping habits, the TOP GROCERIES ICES SCORES Company ICES Score Resultant Sales Growth ( mns) Tesco Waitrose ASDA Group J Sainsbury s plc Figure 5. Top ICES scorers - all from the Grocery category 20 21

13 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS Service innovation is the primary way that these retailers could stand out from their competitors and maximise the return on investments in customer experience and technology. The route to creating these services is not for retailers to copy their competitors; by borrowing ideas from their competitors they can only ever catch-up. Genuine service innovation enables companies to leapfrog their competitors and requires no more investment than playing catch-up. Earlier, we mentioned the Kano model - the theory of product development and customer satisfaction developed in the 80s by Professor oriaki Kano. It categorises product or service attributes to offer some insight into those that are perceived to be important to customers. The Kano model focuses on defining product features as Basic attributes, Performance attributes and Excitement attributes. The Excitement attributes are the most powerful and have the potential to differentiate between products or services. Figure 6. The Kano Model In a similar way, the ICES focuses on categorising product features. Those features that exceed customers expectations today (Excitement attributes) are the features that will be considered merely Performance attributes in months time and Basic attributes in 18 months to 2 years. Such is the rate of innovation and adoption. The branded utility of Ocado and B&Q s apps, are concrete examples of a small innovations that create excitement. Retailers have a choice. They can spend money to catch-up with their competitors; in doing so they turn their competitors Excitement attributes 22 23

14 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS into Performance attributes and gain no competitive advantage themselves. Alternatively, they can look for opportunities to innovate. Service innovation requires deep insights into customer behaviour; this is knowledge already within retail organisations in their buying and merchandising departments. Whilst innovation requires a slightly different approach, it does not necessarily need to cost more or take longer. Innovation is undisputedly the driver in delivering these attributes to customers. Over time Excitement attributes become Performance attributes as customers become familiar with them and competitors adopt them. Performance attributes become Basic as customers come to think of them as hygiene factors. What makes an exceptional experience today? There are common features amongst the highest ICES scorers that make for exceptional retail experiences: Cross-channel personalisation - the current channel the customer is in gives them recommendations based on what they have previously browsed or bought via any channel The experience accumulates across channels. Selections persist across channels (basket and wish list), alternatives are offered, as are ranges or matching items The experience provides the ability to reserve in one channel and purchase via another Clear information about fulfilment is provided and other channels used to support this. For example by sending SMS alerts to a customer s mobile from an order placed on the website The experience offers unexpected but pleasant surprises on receipt of an order. For example, wrapping, scents, gifts The customer is not prevented or discouraged from contacting the retailer. Contact details are provided obviously and clearly The customer can reach out to the retailer using social media and receives a direct, prompt and appropriate response The customer is able to self-serve for common queries. For example, finding manuals, answering their own sizing queries, getting additional product support 24 25

15 KE FIDIGS KE FIDIGS The essence of an exceptional experience Delivering effective, integrated customer experiences leads to growth in sales. Our economic research shows that between the retailers in our study lost out on almost half a billion pounds of potential revenue by failing to deliver a truly integrated customer experience. Creating this type of experience does not require large investment or necessarily any new technology. Rather, it requires retailers to apply what they already know about retail, buying and merchandising to their digital environment in order to create engaging moments. However, outstanding experiences at individual touchpoints only take the retailer so far. Eventually a new holistic mind-set is needed to plan a customer experience and choreograph it across touchpoints. Retailers can reliably create these experiences by designing compelling moments at each touchpoint and then, using explicit and implicit links, string them together into a complete customer experience. vote for designs. This gives their consumers the sense that the item they have is unique; a bespoke approach at mass production prices. This kind of proposition can be considered a disruptive innovation. Rather than being considered niche, this is the kind of service model that we expect will gain momentum, ultimately challenging the larger retailers, and testing their ability to adapt to what consumers want. Innovation has to be meaningful to both retailers, in terms of financial performance, and customers in terms of convenience, utility or engagement. Understanding what customers want is as simple as observing and exploring their behaviour to identify unmet, underlying needs. Knowing how to use that understanding to design new, compelling and indispensable retail experiences is going to be the defining factor for retailers in our increasingly digital, integrated world. Although many of the retailers in our study are clearly still experimenting with their mobile experiences, some have quickly understood how to use apps and mobile websites appropriately. As technology becomes more ubiquitous, retail customers will expect to shop on the move and engage with retailers on mobile channels. Apps will continue to provide the opportunity to deliver innovative branded utility allowing retailers to get closer to their customers. Predictably the research reinforces the importance of good customer service but surprisingly this is the area where all of the retailers were weakest. Social media is starting to be used to provide highly effective customer support but it has to be resourced appropriately. There are many success stories from other sectors that could be applied to retail experiences. Like most sectors, retail is susceptible to break through innovation that radically changes the landscape. Looking at examples such as Made (Furniture) and Threadless (Fashion), they have based their propositions on social models and crowd sourcing, allowing people to contribute ideas and 26 27

17 ICES METHODOLOG ICES METHODOLOG The Shopper Journey is a well-known term used to describe the various stages of activity that a consumer goes through whilst shopping. There are various interpretations and descriptions of these stages, however we have aligned closely with the research of Microsoft and Carat [13] into new behaviours affecting the shopper journey, to come up with our own 5-stage journey. Using this journey as an anchor, and focusing on the eight channels we identified in-store, website, native mobile app, mobile website, social media, Interactive TV (itv), telephone and catalogue - as typical to retail, we developed a complex set of qualitative measures to examine the various types of experiences a consumer could have, or would like to have, with a retailer at each of those stages. Retail channels and touchpoints Emergent These channels offer the opportunity for pervasive use. They provide access to customers within their comfortable places and current technology allows for novel features. Traditional Tried and tested over the years, the in-store experience is the most well understood by retailers. Modern Convenience These channels define the modern shopping experience and with the emergence of online-only retailers and the ability to offer customers cost-savings, these are core channels for any retailer. Figure 7. The Shopper Journey - Browse, Decide, Buy, Receive and Resolve 30 31

18 ICES METHODOLOG ICES METHODOLOG These experiences were then scaled to highlight which were Basic, Performance and Exceptional experiences. We then applied a points score of 1 point for every Basic experience, 2 points for every Performance experience, and 3 points for every Exceptional experience. B Browse Over the following pages, you will see our scorecard for each of the five stages of The Shopper Journey. Each experience is presented as a question to which there can be an answer of es or o. In some cases, there are also situations that result in a deduction of points. These are applied where we feel that not providing that experience would cause a negative reaction on the part of the consumer. The maximum number of points available is 50, the minimum number is -13. Scoring 0-20 Basic These retailers are providing a basic multichannel experience. This may be an intentional strategy or it may expose a weakness, most likely to be within their integration of their digital offering. BASIC For all available channels, be aware of the full product range* PERFORMACE I am able to look through and explore my previous purchases with the retailer i.e. website, mobile web/app For all applicable channels, be able to find information on fulfillment and delivery options* Each channel promotes other channels effectively as purchase decision tools EXCEPTIOAL The current channel I m in, gives me recommendations based on what I have previously browsed or bought via any channel (Personalisation) 1pt each 2pts each 3pts each Performance These retailers are currently meeting most of customers expectations around their multichannel offering. Retailers in this band may need to differentiate from their competitors and identify a way of providing added value. TOTAL Out of Exceptional These retailers are either providing an optimum multichannel offering, or are consistently creating instances of delight through exceptional offerings at key stages of the journey. * If the statement is not true, deduct the applicable points 32 33

19 ICES METHODOLOG ICES METHODOLOG D Decide B Buy BASIC 1pt each BASIC 1pt each Rediscover or re-find a product across any channel* Wherever, whenever I chose to buy, I can* PERFORMACE 2pts each PERFORMACE 2pts each Lets me easily talk to a human if I really want to help me decide/ learn about a product or resolve a product query* Provide clear information about fulfilment, utilise other channels to support this e.g. SMS to my mobile, s etc I am able to view sales, promotions and options for cost savings within all available channels Allow redemption of vouchers/gift cards received via one channel within another I am able to access social decision support mechanisms such as reviews via my chosen channels e.g. website, mobile web/app If I wish to, provide the ability to reserve in one channel and purchase via another EXCEPTIOAL 3pts each EXCEPTIOAL 3pts each Allow accumulation across channels i.e. persist selections (basket), offer alternatives, ranges or matching items Ability to complete the purchase using novel methods e.g. contactless cards or itv TOTAL Out of 10 TOTAL Out of 10 * If the statement is not true, deduct the applicable points * If the statement is not true, deduct the applicable points 34 35

20 ICES METHODOLOG ICES METHODOLOG R Receive R Resolve BASIC 1pt each BASIC 1pt each Purchases arrive/are collected via the channel I selected* I am able to find customer support information via all available channels* PERFORMACE 2pts each PERFORMACE 2pts each If I am awaiting a delivery/collection, I can track the progress of my purchases via available channels. i.e. website, mobile web/app* I am not prevented or discouraged from contacting the retailer i.e. no telephone support* I am encouraged to extend my purchases with voucher codes and money-off coupons received digitally ( ) and in hardcopy (e.g. receipts, packaging) I can reach out to the retailer using social media and am able to receive a direct response I am encouraged to interact with and feedback to the retailer via available channels. e.g. recommendations & reviews I am able to self-serve for common queries e.g. manuals, sizing queries, additional product or warranty support. i.e. website, mobile web/app EXCEPTIOAL 3pts each EXCEPTIOAL 3pts each There are unexpected but pleasant surprises to my product receipt e.g. wrapping, scents, gifts etc The retailer is able to support me in achieving my goals, by communicating directly with third parties e.g event venues, shipping companies, builders etc TOTAL Out of 10 TOTAL Out of 10 * If the statement is not true, deduct the applicable points * If the statement is not true, deduct the applicable points 36 37

Changing trends in multichannel shopping and browsing preferences October 2013 Page 1 Overview Since June 2010, edigitalresearch and Portaltech Reply have been tracking the changes in multichannel shopping

MILLENNIALS EXPECTATIONS VS RETAILERS PRIORITIES BRIDGING THE OMNI-CHANNEL REALITY GAP TO DRIVE GROWTH A CHASE PAYMENTECH BLUEPRINT AT A GLANCE 2015 is the Year of the socalled Millennial (18-34 year olds)

Driving greater loyalty in Europe What consumers want and where brands are failing to deliver Research commissioned with consumers in France, Germany and Switzerland Executive summary Fast-changing technology,

A CHASE PAYMENTECH WHITEPAPER Building customer loyalty in a multi-channel world Creating an optimised approach for e-tailers Table Of Contents Changing shopping habits... 3 The multi-channel journey...

The changing face of the mobile phone and its implication for marketing The ubiquitous mobile phone The Irish love affair with the mobile phone is a well documented story. The most recent report from the

Omni-Channel Retailing By James Rowell james.rowell@buckingham.ac.uk Abstract Since the advent of the internet, shopping has been a key component in its commercial use and usefulness. Products and services

e-commerce: A Guide for Small and Medium Enterprises HOW MID-SIZED COMPANIES CAN MAXIMISE THEIR ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES 1 The Online Opportunity Given the UK Government s recently announced plans to get 12.5

5 Key Mobile Trends For 2016 What s changing, and how to get ready sales@swrve.com INTRODUCTION As 2016 approaches, we re long past needing to point out how totally the smartphone has changed our lives.

RBTE: Big themes from Europe s biggest Retail show The Pierhouse team joined thousands of visitors, retailers and exhibitors at the Retail Business Technology Expo in London to discuss the challenges and

The cross-channel insight imperative Why today s hyper-connected consumer means having a crosschannel consumer classification is more important than ever. An Experian Marketing Services white paper A changing

Customer Experience How to build foundations for true loyalty A Salmat White Paper, July 2013 Table of contents 1. Customer Loyalty: much more than points 3 2. The battle for the empowered customer 5 2.1

Issues Change Solution How to get closer to your customers Communicating with customers on their terms Every channel available The Internet enables easier comparison of companies, particularly of price,

IBM Global Business Services White Paper Cross industry Creating a Compelling Mobile User Experience Highlight: The mobile channel is the most personal touch point of your brand, so understanding how to

Bricks, Mortar & Mobile Building an Effective In-Store mcommerce Strategy EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Over the course of the last few decades, retail has seen ecommerce emerge and succeed as a viable sales channel.

The advice challenge: Understanding what clients value Life s better with the right partner 2 The advice challenge: Understanding what clients value The advice challenge: Understanding what clients value

Mobile Apps: What Consumers Really Need and Want A Global Study of Consumers Expectations and Experiences of Mobile Applications The Difference Between a Mobile App and a Mobile Website Before we evaluate

Executive Summary With the rapidly changing consumer habits in recent the years the convenience sector has risen to be the fastest growing sector of the UK grocery industry. Figures out this April reported

SPOTLIGHT Future Trends in Retail Marketing: 2015 Event report Thursday 18th September 2014 Powered by London s Century Club was the unique venue for the latest Tag Spotlight forum. After our successful

Bricks And Clicks A Look At Today s Retail Marketing Trends A Quick and Easy Guide to Digital Advertising for Local Businesses TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 4 7 11 The New Customer Path to Purchase The Rise of Mobile

THE OMNICHANNEL CONSUMER KEY FINDINGS FROM THE DELOITTE REPORT THE OMNICHANNEL OPPORTUNITY TO HELP RETAILERS UNLOCK THE POWER OF THE CONNECTED CONSUMER INTRODUCTION The internet and mobile devices have

The Customer Journey Mapping Workbook how to make your business truly customer- centric A Whitepaper by Customer Faithful Limited 2013 All rights reserved How should businesses get underway in defining

Beaconstac How Retailers can go Omni channel using Beacons 1 Contents Why beacons are the key to omni channel retail 3 What is omni channel and why it is a must have for retailers 3 How retail stores can

Experian Cross Channel Marketing Platform Managing campaigns and reaching consumers in real time The relationship between brands and customers has fundamentally changed. Whereas once there was equilibrium

Universal Banking Solution System Integration Consulting Business Process Outsourcing Customer experience is a key differentiator in banking In recent years, customer experience has caught the imagination

And How To Calculate The ROI On Fixing It INTRODUCTION If you re a consumer-facing business of any size, you ve probably got a mobile app. You may well take a close interest in how well it functions, and

Choice: The new currency of commerce Services Omnichannel will redefine retailers relationship with consumers Customers are more demanding, and more fickle, than ever Using co-channelling to embed customer

Mobile Consumers & You How to use mobile to your advantage Driving value from the mobile consumer In the age of the smartphone, brands and retailers cannot succeed without persuading mobile researchers

IN Rethinking Retail Series: Reinventing the store shelf edge in the age of omni-channel shopping STORE E SL Product $4.99 Reinventing the store shelf edge in the age of omni-channel shopping The meteoric

The Perfect Digital Marketing Recipe For Your Business Success Executive Summary With a wide variety of options available to us, it can often be difficult to find the optimum combination of tools and techniques

Social Media Strategy: The Beginners Guide to Strategy Success in 7 Steps A Simple Guide In association with: Chapter Title Contents Page Page 2 What is Social Media...3 What is a Social Media Strategy

Safety, Accessibility and Sustainability Panel Date: 7 July 2015 Item: TfL s Customer Strategy and Action Plan This paper will be considered in public 1. Summary 1.1 To provide the panel with an overview

Bb 2 ISSUE 3 What are the best lead generation techniques? The number of lead generation techniques available in the B2B marketers toolbox is continually increasing, but which methods are still generating

IBM Commerce by CrossView, Order Management Order management in the cloud IBM Commerce by CrossView, Order Management 1 IBM Commerce by CrossView, Order Management is a solution that delivers strategy,

Cheil s Up II Written by Jiyoung Shon, Retail Marketing Team 06 Omni-channel stores offer seamless offline and online retail experiences With the spread of mobile devices, more people are purchasing things

Comprehensive Guide to Marketing Like Starbucks 1 Introduction 6 reasons Starbucks Marketing Communications Strategy is so Effective is one of our most popular posts, continuing to be a top performer even

Distribution channels Factors influencing the method of distribution Activity 27 : ASOS and Place Distribution channels The place element of the marketing mix refers to where products are made available

Trending with NextGen travelers Understanding the NextGen consumer-traveler Why NextGen is important Amadeus research study: the NextGen traveler Understanding trendsetters and future heavy consumers of

CONTACT CENTER 09: Five Steps to a Lean, Customer-Centric Service Organization 2009 RightNow Technologies. All rights reserved. RightNow and RightNow logo are trademarks of RightNow Technologies Inc. All

PRESENTS DATA DRIVEN BRAND MARKETING PART TWO YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO FINDING THE CHANNELS THAT DRIVE THE BEST RESPONSE WHAT YOU D KNOW IF WE COULD TALK TO YOU 1. Building Value on Existing Segmentations

brought to you by waterfall mobile Retail This Waterfall Quick6 LookBook provides an insider s perspective into how mobile fits into a retail communication strategy so that companies can execute successfully.

Customer loyalty is hard to come by: Technology is the answer CARD LINKED MARKETING Gone are the days when a customer would stay with the same bank for 20+ years, taking out mortgages, loans and making

We have to admit it. we really love what we do. We get to work with great brands to create brilliant customer experiences that their customers love and their employees can t wait to deliver. It s not just

MARKETING Handbook for Retail Mobile Strategy Mobile has become an integral component of IT strategy within the retail industry, with a wide range of applications spanning from connecting with consumers

The Connecting with Customers Report A Global Study of the Drivers of a Successful Online Experience November 2013 Executive summary LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN), a leader in online customer engagement, commissioned

Market Structure There are a variety of differing market structures which are separated by the levels of competition that exist within each market and the market conditions in which the businesses operate.

Reward programmes in a digital age Think SoLoMo It s a digital world It s no surprise to see that businesses who have remodelled to embrace the digital revolution have flourished in the past 5-10 years.

Customer Experience as the Final Retail Frontier: Mitigating Price Factors By Delivering What Consumers Really Want in the In-store and Online Experience By: Mark Marone, PhD Developing the 21st century

Making Your Marketing Interactive New Opportunities to Engage Customers with Live Chat Companies around the world are using live chat to boost online sales, reduce customer service costs and increase customer

Get more from less How to build a prioritised CRM strategy in five steps BT Expedite White paper Contents Executive summary...3 What is CRM and where is it going?...4 Get more from less: create a prioritised

Experience Trumps All Leveraging the Top Trends in Customer Service Table of Contents 03 The Changing Landscape of Omnichannel Service 05 Trend 1 The Social Media Explosion 07 Trend 2 Device Hopping 09

Cisco StyleMe Virtual Fashion Mirror How New Consumer Behaviors Are Enabling Retailers To Revitalize Their Stores by Combining the Virtual and Physical Worlds Written by Lisa Fretwell Solution Developed

More Enquiries, Same Budget: Solving the B2B Marketer s Challenge You need to increase inbound enquiries, both in volume and quality, but your budget is restricted. Sound familiar? Prospect Analytics offers

PRESENTS DATA DRIVEN BRAND MARKETING PART ONE YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO BUILDING LIFETIME VALUE WITH SEGMENTATION WHAT YOU D KNOW IF WE COULD TALK TO YOU Proving the Value of Marketing 1 2 3 4 5 6 SEE YOUR

LESSON 3 Hardware e-tools Hardware e-tools By the end of this lesson you should be able to: Describe Hardware e-tools available: Mobile or handheld devices: mobile phones, laptops, two-way radios, PDAs

The Connecting with Customers Report A global in-depth study of the online customer experience January 2013 Executive summary The growth in e-commerce, social media and mobile devices means that today,

Author: Peter Ballard December: 2015 Foolproof 2015 London Norwich Singapore Apple Pay s adoption Early signs from both the US and UK indicate that Apple Pay s adoption has been lacklustre. However, Foolproof

ebook POWER YOUR ECOMMERCE BUSINESS With Referral Marketing Did you know that customers are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend? Learn how to launch a successful ecommerce referral marketing

Business Travel Made To Measure Global Scale With A Personal Touch Portman is a travel management company that offers you the best of both worlds: global scale and buying power, combined with a genuinely